Sources say former TV show host Norman Vella has been selected.

Former minister Francis Zammit Dimech has been chosen to contest the European Parliament elections on the Nationalist ticket.

Sources said the decision was taken on Tuesday by a special commission tasked with recommending candidates for the elections, headed by former European commissioner Joe Borg.

The nomination still needs to go before the PN’s executive council for official approval this Friday.

The same sources said former TV show host Norman Vella has also been chosen to contest.

Although rumours about Mr Vella’s candidature have been doing the rounds for weeks, the selection of PN stalwart Dr Zammit Dimech came as a surprise.

Well-known for his oratory and sense of humour, he was sworn in as foreign minister in 2012 when Tonio Borg was appointed European Commissioner.

Before 2008 he had held various ministerial portfolios which saw him being responsible for communications, infrastructural projects, tourism and the arts.

Last year he bid for the top Nationalist Party post but together with Mario de Marco dropped out of the leadership race, confirming Simon Busuttil as the leader of the party following the first round of the election.

Mr Vella has in the past months received sympathy after he was questioned by police in October.

His mobile phone and computer tablet had been confiscated after it was alleged he had taken photographs of two government spokesmen in a restricted area at the airport last month.

Nomination still needs to go before the PN’s executive council for official approval

A few days later, a magistrate ordered that his mobile phone and tablet be returned to him as the police had no reasonable grounds to hold on to them.

Mr Vella used to present a daily evening talk show on the national television station before the programme was stopped after Labour came to power.

The party had been very critical of the show, accusing Mr Vella of blatant bias against it. Mr Vella had been seconded to PBS in August 2012 on grounds of public policy. He was on unpaid leave, during which time he worked as production manager for programmes produced by Where’s Everybody, including Xarabank and Bijografiji.

Soon after the election, his secondment to PBS was revoked and he was redeployed as an immigration officer.

In July, the executive council approved eight other candidates: MEPs David Casa and Roberta Metsola, Playmobil’s former CEO Helga Ellul, Chamber of Commerce official Stefano Mallia, human rights lawyer Theresa Comodini Cachia, entrepreneur Jonathan Shaw, lawyer Kevin Cutajar and president of the PN’s youth section Kevin Plumpton.